SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, are slamming the federal government's rejection of state conservation plans for the greater sage grouse and say federal plans are so restrictive they are the equivalent of a listing under the Endangered Species Act.

Early Tuesday, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the historic, landscape-scale effort to save the greater sage grouse that has played out among states, federal partners and private landowners means it does not face the risk of extinction any longer and it does not need to be listed as an endangered species.

"This is truly a historic effort — one that represents extraordinary collaboration across the American West," Jewell said in a prepared statement.

But Utah lawmakers said even in not listing the bird as endangered the federal government is still putting forth its own plan and agenda at the expense of state plans.

"Today's actions constitute the equivalent of a listing decision outside the normal process and fail to support an appropriate balance between conservation and other public uses of the land," Herbert said Tuesday.

"(The plan's) one-size-fits-all approach does not reflect the tremendous diversity in greater sage-grouse habitats across the West. These federal land use plan amendments are unnecessarily restrictive in nature and devalue Utah's management plan and the conservation commitments from private landowners," he said.

Bishop told KSL Newsradio's Doug Wright that Interior Secretary Jewell's announcement to not list the bird "changes nothing."

"They did not go through the front door. They went through the back door. … They have the same type of control as if it is listed."

Allison Jones, executive director of Wild Utah Project, said it is curious that those who fought so hard against listing the bird as endangered are now complaining about the decision.

"You can't have it both ways. You can't have these land use revisions by the federal government rubber stamping business as usual," she said, "because business as usual on these Western public lands is what brought about the long-term decline of the species. We can't keep doing business as usual on Western public lands, but apparently that is what critics like Rob Bishop wants."

Bishop and Herbert said the state's sage grouse conservation plan should be allowed to continue its efforts and in the face of federal plans being implemented, Herbert said Utah will consider pursuing "relief" from Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service plans.

"I have always believed that, as a state, Utah is better positioned to manage our sage-grouse population than the federal government. … We will continue to work with the Departments of Interior and Agriculture to accept the state of Utah's conservation plan. We will also pursue legislative and potential judicial relief to protect the state's interests and ensure conservation of the species."

Jewell released the decision via Twitter with a video and made a formal announcement Tuesday at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge flanked by several Western states' governors and the directors of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

"It is not an exaggeration to say we are working to save an entire landscape," Jewell said at the event.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reached the determination after evaluating the bird's population status and the efforts made by the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, private land owners and others to conserve sage grouse habitat.

"Today is a good day to be sagebrush," said Dan Ashe, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It is a good day to be sage grouse."

The bird, about the size of a football, has a 173 million acre range, with about half that occurs on private land. The agency determined that efforts to improve that habitat — and thus help the species — means the animal does not face the risk of extinction now or in the foreseeable future. That conclusion keeps it off the Endangered Species list.

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Federal sage grouse conservation plans for Utah, other Western states released

More than a dozen lengthy environmental plans were unveiled Thursday by the federal government to protect the greater sage grouse in Utah and nine other Western states, constituting the largest effort ever undertaken to protect a single species.

But Utah officials, joined by Wyoming's Cynthia Loomis, a congresswoman from Wyoming and chair of the Congressional Western Caucus, say the protections invoked by BLM and Forest Service land use plan amendments are just as onerous as a listing.

"With the stroke of a pen, the Obama administration's oppressive land management plan is the same as a listing. Now, successful conservation done at the state level will be in vain. The new command and control federal plan will not help the bird, but it will control the West, which is the real goal of the Obama administration."

Bishop, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, added he will work with Western states' governors to ensure a more "rational" and grassroots approach is pursued to save the bird.

John Harja, the senior policy analyst for the Governor's Public Lands Policy Coordination Office, said a lawsuit is on the table.

"The federal plans in Utah are missing the point completely and put unreasonable restrictions on economic development in the Eastern part of state. There are restrictions on oil and gas activity that are not necessary, restrictions on mining claims and concerns we have about grazing that they have not responded to. The path is unreasonable and constitutes a listing of the species without going through the proper process."

In Utah, the federal land use plan revisions have a number of impacts, including:

• A recommendation to withdraw 181,100 acres from hard rock or mineral mining in Box Elder and Rich counties
• Removal of 186,700 acres from new phosphate mining, including nearly 43,000 acres of high potential phosphate resources in Diamond Mountains north of Vernal
• Travel restrictions that critics like the Utah Association of Counties, multiple rural counties, livestock companies and mining and off-highway vehicle groups say impose unreasonable burdens that interfere with existing rights
• Designation of the Alton Coal tract on federal land as a priority habitat area for sage grouse, which could jeopardize a pending lease application to mine 3,500 acres of federal land for 45 million acres of recoverable coal

Quincy Bahr, the Utah BLM's project lead on greater sage grouse, said the designation for the Alton coal tract does not necessarily mean the lease is off the table, but how the mining occurs, if it occurs on federal land, will change. "Could it affect future mine plans and future operations? Yes."

The designation by the BLM and Forest Service plans of a little more than half a million acres of general habitat for the greater sage grouse — something missing from the state plan's high value management areas — is another fundamental difference between the two approaches, Bahr said.

"We have more circles on the map than Utah does," Bahr said.

Utah's conservation plan invokes a 1-mile buffer around a lek — mating area for the sage grouse — while the federal plans have a three-mile zone.

Harja said there are also high standards for "human disturbance" that will prevent a lot of activity.

Bahr said the BLM will not violate valid existing rights for oil and leases, but said some stipulations for greater sage grouse may come into play when it comes to the permitting process.

"We can't do it to the extent that the leaseholder can't enjoy their rights. It is going to be a case-by-case decision, but our intent is to work with the lessees."

Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of government and public affairs for the Western Energy Alliance, said the concern is how far-reaching those stipulations are.

"What may be unreasonable and uneconomic to the operator may seem completely reasonable to the BLM."

But groups involved in the petition to list the greater sage grouse say the non-warranted decision is a huge disappointment and the federal plans are inadequate.

"Instead of ensuring a future for the greater sage grouse, the proposed plans are replete with crippling flaws and loopholes rendering them inadequate to address threats from industrial development, livestock grazing, and invasive weeds, " said Erik Molvar, wildlife biologist with WildEarth Guardians. "Questions remain regarding whether these fatal flaws will be corrected."

The greater sage grouse has seen the majority of its West-wide range ruined by wildfires, invasive species, urban encroachment, and the onslaught of pinion and juniper pine.

According to the North American Breeding Bird Survey, greater sage grouse populations have decreased by 65 percent in the past five decades. The bird is considered an "indicator" species for the overall health of the sagebrush steppe landscape, which supports 350 species.

Once numbering in the millions, the greater sage grouse has declined to a few hundred thousand birds, prompting WildEarth Guardians and others to petition the federal government for protections.

Dan Ashe, executive director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, urged that the federal plans be allowed to work so the bird does not suffer setbacks.

"We must sustain and support every element of this strategy in the days ahead or we will most assuredly be revisiting this decision."

Jones echoed his concern.

"In order to ensure the sage grouse did not get listed, the states and land management agencies have made a lot of promises. Let's make sure those promises are kept."

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